Crossroads 04 - The Dragon Isles (28 page)

Paths of Knowledge

 
          
The
copper dragon was huge, larger than 1 the brass they’d seen flying over Lord
Kell’s galley. The sun glinted orange off his rough hide and glistened from the
peaks of his horns and the spikes along his spine. Flexible metal scales
covered his belly, and thick armored plating adorned its back. His blue eyes
burned with terrible intelligence. Clearly, the Dragonheights were built by and
for such creatures. The dragon hovered effortlessly before them, his great
wings buffeting the plateau’s still air.

 
          
Mik’s
knees went weak, and he had to fight to remain standing. Sweat beaded on his
forehead, and the artifact tucked into his waistband felt suddenly hot. He
found it difficult to breathe.

 
          
“How
did you pass the barrier?” the dragon boomed. He extended his claws, and his
tongue flicked out of his huge maw as if to taste the people standing before
him.

 
          
“W-we
seek wisdom’s highest throne,” Mik said. His throat had gone dry and his words
sounded faint and distant even as he spoke them.

 
          
“Kopernus
... Is that you?” Shimmer asked. If the knight felt any of the same dragonfear,
it didn’t show through his bronze armor.

 
          
The
copper dragon’s eyes narrowed and he looked squarely at the bronze knight, but
said nothing.

 
          
“It’s
me, Shimanloreth.”

 
          
“Shimanloreth?”
the hovering dragon replied. The creature scowled. “This is a trick. It could
be
anyone
under that helmet.” He
peered at the knight as though he might stare through the bronze carapace.

 
          
Shimmer
sighed and reached up as though to brush back his hair. As his metal-gloved
hands touched armor, his helmet slid back like a window blind and folded itself
into the collar of the knight’s breastplate.

 
          
The
copper dragon’s frightening visage brightened. “It
is
you,” he said. “You’re smaller than I remember, but I’m glad
you’ve come to visit me. Where have you been lately?”

 
          
“Exiled.”

 
          
“Exiled?”
The dragon frowned. “Who would exile you?”

 
          
“I
exiled myself. I didn’t like the company I was keeping.”

 
          
The
copper dragon nodded. “I sometimes felt that way— before the other dragons
left. Most are gone, you know.”

 
          
“I
heard.”

 
          
Mik
screwed up his courage and spoke. “If so many others are gone, why are
you
still here?”

 
          
Kopernus
puffed out his chest. “Someone has to guard the Dragonheights,” he said. “So I
took it on as my duty. Those haughty brasses wanted it, but I wouldn’t let
them.” He rose into the air and circled the plaza twice, the sun glinting off
his orange wings, before settling down again. “Now, the enchantment keeps all
the rest out. Only
I
have the honor
of protecting the monuments.”

 
          
“Very
impressive,” said Shimmer.

 
          
Kopernus
bowed his head at the compliment.

 
          
“We’re
seeking knowledge of a key,” Mik said, feeling almost
himself
once more. “I’m sure a dragon of your immense ... power must have some wisdom
to share with your old friend Shimmer and me.”

 
          
Kopernus
glowered. “I’m a guardian, not a librarian handing out knowledge. My duty is to
protect this place.”

 
          
“And
a fine job you’re doing,” Mik said. “Would you like to escort us to that
pyramid over there?” He pointed toward their destination. “Make sure that we
don’t run into any trouble?”

 
          
“It
would he my honor,” Kopernus replied. “I’ll scout ahead and clear the way.”

 
          
He
turned, flipping head over tail—barely missing tall monuments on each side—and
streaked off through a towering bronze tree with jade leaves.

 
          
“I
can see why few people venture up here,” Mik said.

 
          
Shimmer
nodded. “Kopernus can
he
deadly when provoked.”

 
          
They
moved as quickly as they could through the strange city: running over mosaics
the size of city blocks, fording rivers frozen in time, and dodging around the
titanic monuments.

 
          
“Like
a graveyard for the gods,” Mik thought.

 
          
The
sailor’s legs were nearly ready to quit when Shimmer finally pulled up before a
huge, white marble pyramid. Kopernus hovered near a door in the side of the
huge edifice.

 
          
“No
scoundrels in sight,” the copper dragon said.

 
          
“Thank
you for your help,” replied Mik.

 
          
The
copper puffed out his chest again. “Please keep your visit brief, and let me
know if you spot any rogues.”

 
          
“We
will,” Mik said.

 
          
“Come
visit again soon, Shimanloreth.”

 
          
“When
I can,” Shimmer replied.

 
          
With
a single flap of his huge wings, Kopernus shot into the sky. Moments later, the
copper dragon disappeared entirely.

 
          
Mikal
Vardan let out a long, relieved breath.

 
          
The
doors of the pyramid stood recessed into the side of the immense structure.
Each was five times as wide and tall as a human door. They were made of the
same polished marble as the library’s mountain-like exterior and had no
doorhandles.

 
          
Shimmer
stuck his fingertips into the broad crack between them and pulled with all his
might. With a groan like distant thunder, the doors opened—just a crack.

 
          
Mik
and the knight pushed through the opening and into a long, dimly lit hallway
filled with hundred-foot columns.

 
          
Mik
began to hike down the hallway; Shimmer followed behind, rubbing his left
shoulder.

 
          
“This
place looks even larger inside than it did outside,” Mik commented.

 
          
“The
gold and silver dragons who built it were powerful sorcerers,” Shimmer replied.
“The laws of time and space do not always apply to them.”

 
          
Mik
nodded, remembering the people frozen motionless in the plaza.

 
          
They
passed through the end of the long corridor and into a huge, domed chamber.
Hundreds of shelves, each as tall as a man, lined the walls. The shelves were
filled to overflowing with books and scrolls, also of titanic size. Golden filigree,
gems, and strange runes decorated the spines of the volumes. Some were bound in
leather, other in armored hide or scaly skin, and still others in parchment
alone.

 
          
“If
the key were hidden in this room, it would take a lifetime to find it,” Mik
said.

 
          
“More
than a lifetime—unless you’re a dragon.” Shimmer replied.

 
          
“Fortunately,
I don’t think it’s here,” Mik said, a smile cracking his bearded face. “I think
we have to go
up
in the pyramid—to
the
highest throne

 
          
“A fair assumption.”
Shimanloreth shouldered aside a huge
oak door on the far side of the chamber and discovered a staircase beyond. They
went through and climbed the long stairway.

 
          
The
chamber at the top of the stairs was built on a more human scale. The stacks
were huge, but they had normal sized—if elaborate and beautiful—books, and long
ladders for reaching the top shelves. Skylights dominated the vaulted ceiling,
providing the room with plenty of natural lighting—though Mik didn’t recall
seeing any windows on the outside of the pyramid.

 
          
Going
ever upward, they climbed a balcony on the far side of the room and opened a
normal-sized oak door set into one wall.

 
          
The staircase beyond stretched high overhead into darkness.
Hundreds of identical, brass-handled doors debouched onto the stairway. As Mik
and Shimmer climbed, they opened a few of the doors they passed and discovered
strange and wondrous things beyond. One doorway overlooked an endless twilit
sea. They nearly fell through another into a black, star-dappled sky with no
solid ground in sight. Musty, cobweb-covered scrolls filled one room beyond the
stairs. Another was stacked floor to ceiling with polished obsidian orbs.

 
          
The
climb to the top of the stairs was tortuously long, and they stopped several
times to catch their breath.

 
          
“How
long have we been here?” Mik asked.

 
          
“A moment?
A day?
A lifetime?”
Shimmer replied. “Who can tell?”

 
          
At
the top of the stairs they found a final golden door.

 
          
The
portal resisted their attempts to open it until Mik held up the emerald key.
Then the latch gave easily.

 
          
Mik
shrugged at Shimmer. They walked through the door, down a short corridor, and
into a huge spherical chamber. The whole of
Kingfisher
—masts
and all—could easily have fit inside the room. Stunning mosaics entirely
covered the vast, curving walls. The floor depicted the ocean, wide and blue
and teaming with life. The walls—if the globular space could be said to have
walls—were covered with scenes of the Dragon Isles: islands, beaches, forests,
mountains, ships, and flying dragons. Overhead, an indigo sky sported countless
shimmering stars set in the constellations of Krynn.

 
          
At
the very center of the room, a huge golden chair with crimson padding hung
motionless in the air. A strange, flickering golden aura surrounded the seat. A
fist-sized multifaceted crystal had been set into the apex of the chair’s back.

 
          
“Wisdom’s
highest throne, I presume,” Mik said. He crossed the ocean mosaic and stood in
the center of the room under the hovering chair. “Give me a hand up, would
you?”

 
          
Shimmer
nodded and came to help.